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More efficiency in coating at Unger since Graco XM was purchased

March 13, 2015

Unger, a family-run company, has been working successfully for more than 60 years in Austria and abroad. Its core competences lie in constructural and architectural steel, as well as project development and the turnkey delivery of complete projects as a general contractor for individual and standardized solutions in the whole construction industry. Unger has 20 subsidiaries in central and eastern Europe and in the Middle East and has international a strong market position.

At Unger, steel beams and steel constructions are sprayed via a computer-controlled automatic line. The paint or coating line is equipped with automatic spray guns fed by pumps. The coating material is from the material manufacturer International Paint, type Intergard 345. It is a two-component material with low VOC, high solids, and fast curing epoxy primer/finish containing zinc phosphate anti-corrosive pigmentation. At a ratio of 3.29:1, it’s a challenge to maintain an accurate mix ratio. Unger needed a more efficient solution, easy-to-use, which would meet today's stringent standards required for such production processes.

Accurate Mixing ratio thanks to Graco XM

Graco distributor OTG offered a Graco XM50 unit to replace the old method of spraying these beams that used two airless pumps and one material container with manually premixed material. The XM is a great solution as it provides variable mix ratios from 1:1 to 10:1. The previous spray method could not provide an accurate mix ratio of 3.29:1 during the coating process, which the XM50 does easily. Besides, the XM has a data reporting system with a USB connection so all important data can be stored and analysed if required.

Increased productivity & efficiency

The Unger Steel Group is a successful international company with employees from all over the world which means that equipment must be easy to use with little explanation. The XM unit has a simple set-up with different mix ratios and can be programmed daily or as required for different users. Department Manager, Richard Bader, confirms: “I am very happy with the solution, as more employees can work with the equipment with little explanation. This has provided a huge increase in productivity and efficiency.” Today, the Unger Steel Group has an efficient coating production line with material data available for analysis. They are very happy with the XM50 configuration and Richard Bader confirms: “I advise more companies to take a closer look at these aspects of the production process.”